What do Pamela Anderson, David Crosby, Jim Nabors and Naomi Judd have in common? It isn’t their taste in music.

If you guessed “hepatitis,” you’re right. But hepatitis isn’t limited to musicians and actors.

Once a week, I see the Florida Department of Health’s Communicable Disease Report for Palm Beach County.

Every week, I shake my head at how much viral hepatitis circulates here. It outpaces reports of salmonella, influenza, strep and even chicken pox.

For the week of July 10 to July 16, there were 32 cases of chronic hepatitis C reported to the county health office, and 7 cases of chronic hepatitis B.

That’s a whopping 891 cases of chronic hepatitis C, and 165 of chronic hepatitis B so far this year, just in our county of 1.2 million people.

And yet doctors still don’t test for it as a matter of routine. Many physicians think that they should.

Last year I wrote about how hepatitis disproportionately affects the boomer generation.

Blame it on blood supply problems pre-1992; unsterile tattoos, needle sharing, unsafe sex, and, some say, past unsterile medical practices…For insight, take a look at the comments,
including this one:

Needle sharing, unsafe sex and contaminated blood transfusions pre-1992 are to blame for much of boomers' hepatitis. /PB Post

“When I was first diagnosed in 1994 the doctor told me not to worry about it because my liver enzymes were normal. He never explained anything about what the implications were of this disease. I had no idea that in 30 years I would be so sick that it is a challenge to get out of bed. Even some physicians don’t take this disease seriously enough.“

Part of what’s disturbing about hepatitis is how few people know they are infected. In recognition of the first World Hepatitis Day today, I’m republishing facts you should know:

WARNING SYMPTOMS

Each year an estimated 25,000 people become newly infected with hepatitis A; 43,000 with hepatitis B; and 17,000 with hepatitis C. A vaccine exists against hepatitis A and B, but not C.
Approximately 70 percent to 80 percent of people with acute hepatitis C do not have symptoms. Some have symptoms soon after being infected:
• Fever
• Fatigue
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Dark urine
• Clay-colored bowel movements
• Joint pain
• Jaundice (yellow color in the skin or eyes)

Infections spread rapidly and some lead to death.
Of every 100 people infected with the hepatitis C virus, about …
• 75—85 people will develop chronic hepatitis C virus infection; of those,
• 60—70 people will go on to develop chronic liver disease
• 5—20 people will go on to develop cirrhosis over a period of 20—30 years
• 1—5 people will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention